Create lasting change
Changing habits and behaviour is easier said than done.
So how do we remove the barriers that make change difficult – and help project teams, stakeholders, steering committee members and suppliers break unhelpful routines?
There is no ready‑made recipe for motivating your specific target group. What motivates a 55‑year‑old academic is unlikely to be the same as what motivates a 23‑year‑old apprentice. Still, the overall approach can be distilled into three simple steps:
- What do you want to achieve?
- What barriers exist for your different target groups?
- What does the solution look like?
What do you want to achieve?
In other words: which behaviour do you want to encourage?
Create a clear, concrete picture of the desired action or behaviour. Be explicit about what you want people to do – and why. The motivation must make sense to the recipients and be simple to communicate. Consider whether the goal can be broken down into smaller parts, and whether different target groups may need different behavioural shifts to reach the overall objective.
What barriers exist?
Take the time to understand the resistance. Barriers can be highly practical – for instance, having to start the time registration system on a different computer than the one used during the day. Or they can be attitudinal, such as preconceived ideas that the system is difficult to use.
A solid barrier analysis requires more than a desk review. Observe users. Talk to them. Uncover the underlying reasons for resistance. Genuine understanding requires genuine curiosity and empathy.
What does the solution look like?
Make it easy to do the ‘right’ thing and harder to do the ‘wrong’ thing. When you do that, you are well on your way to fostering new habits.
Returning to the time registration example, ask yourself: what would make it easiest to remember daily registration? Sitting through an information meeting about its importance? Probably not. Instead, bring the purpose closer to the individual’s everyday concerns – for example, having an overview of overtime or identifying where time is being wasted.
Motivation can also be strengthened through rewards. Cake on Friday if everyone in the project team has registered their hours every day? Or perhaps a simple system pop‑up at 3.50pm each day. Should you consider a daily calendar reminder? Could the system be made more user‑friendly? (Ask users what improved usability would mean to them.) Or do people simply need better training in the system?
Think in habits – create a loop
A behaviour becomes a habit when it follows a simple loop:
- A cue (an automatic reminder to register time)
- Triggers an action (time registration)
- Which is followed by a reward (the promise of Friday cake)
After several cycles, the new behaviour begins to stick.
If the action is also memorable, the chances of establishing a habit increase further. In the time registration case, the system’s visual design could help: perhaps the interface changes colour depending on the day, displays a new image, or greets the user with a daily message or quote.
Remember the social effect
Humans are social creatures. What colleagues do – and what they think – matters to most of us. When new behaviours are framed as a shared effort, with mutual accountability, the likelihood of success rises. In the time registration example, the cake reward might only be granted if everyone has registered their hours all week. This naturally motivates individuals to support one another.
Practice makes perfect
Changing habits is not easy. But with a clear, concrete picture of the desired behaviour and a deep understanding of users’ daily reality, you are already well equipped. For further inspiration, see Jytte fra marketing er desværre gået for i dag by Morten Münster (2017), or explore the work of Daniel Kahneman and Charles Duhigg.
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